The film depicts carnivalesque atmosphere summed up by the cry "Ei ja nai ka" ("Why not?") in Japan in 1867 and 1868 in the days leading to the Meiji Restoration. It examines the effects of the political and social upheaval of the time, and culminates in a revelrous march on the Tokyo Imperial Palace, which turns into a massacre. Characteristically, Imamura focuses not on the leaders of the country, but on characters in the lower classes and on the fringes of society.
as Genji
as Ine
as Itoman
as Furukawa
as Masuya
as Toramatsu
as Oko
as Kinzo
as Oyoshi
as Magoshichi
as Yoshino
as Nui
as Roku
as Nakazawa
as Koide
as Matakichi
as Hanjiro
as Sakunojo
as Densuke
as Yamikumo-dayu
as Omatsu
as Gon
as Ijuin
as Jyosyuya
